1 post tagged “john cooper clarke”

Jcc

John Cooper Clarke should be filling Stadiums, I'm sure he's not bothered by this, although I am. There was the typical mixture of London arty trendies at his Union Chapel gig last night, a few old punks, and a spattering of spotty kids who think he's trendy now he's been tacked on to a Soprano's episode, and featured in the Joy Division film (crap film, excellent John Cooper Clarke).. Making people like Cliff Richard, 'Sirs' is ridiculous when you have the contribution of people like Clarke to the culture of the UK, this guy should be up there with Sir Paul, and The Pistols as cultural icons, as well as the fact that he should be the Poet Laureate (what do they do ??,,, do they meet the Queen now & then, and write a couple of lines for Royal Weddings, "Look at Camilla, what an arse, the Royal's are bastards, its a ******' farce",, or something as equally crappermost)..

I found it hard to quantify the fact that Clarke had driven to the gig in a hire car,, you feel like he is beamed in from planet Rock 'n' Roll, with his imponderably tight skinny jeans (yes, he carried on wearing them till they came back in fashion - good 'on 'im), glossy Cuban heeled boots, dark shades, and his crisp, sardonic Mancunian brain & wit working 5 times faster than any of ours,.. I started worrying subconsciously about how he looks after himself, is he eating, does Nico make him breaky in the morning, or are they starting off each day with the cash from the gig from the night before buying heroin on Broadwater Farm,, because to me it looked like he hasn't eaten yet this life, just some coffee, ciggys, and Jack Daniels... then I started thinking about those dozens of notepads he carries round with him, all packed with brilliant genius,, does he have a smoke alarm fitted in his house, because if they go up in flames , we won't be left with the huge cultural repository we deserve (as does he)... They go on about Dylan Thomas, Shelley, blah-blah, but because Clarke doesn't wear a cravat and take the easy way out he isn't celebrated with the same veneration, or is it that he is still alive ??!

You know the thing about this is that Clarke is a comedian, his anecdotes and reflections are hilarious, literally side-split tingly funny, but because he is a poet and not the cheesy fat guy who did the dance in the Office, and he hasn't sold out he is forced down. Clarke should have his own series on teli, Saturday nights with Clarke, live audience, a few bands, Lilly Allen guesting, wham-bam... but those fat-arsed lazy Ox-Bridge Channel 4 & BBC commissioners would rather have Simon Cowell, & some people decorating a house.

My observation is that someone with Clarke's inspiration , genius & talent would have no chance now. If he was 17 years old now, and trying to get supports at Digbeth Civic Hall to a load of bands he would have absolutely no chance, the climate has changed so irrevocably, you got someone just breathing in to a microphone on TV, hardly any effort and the country goes ******' bananas..... a world of identikit bands churning out the same old garbage - Clarke jokingly said TV is his window to the world, well ofcouse it is, there's no going back... not sure how he feels about playing to 800 paying punters, a lot of old punks would be more than happy with that, but then again, a lot weren't exactly Shelley were they ?

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